Theron: It's nice not to be single

The Oscar-winning South African actress, who graces the front cover of Esquire's July issue in a monochrome swimsuit, admitted she never expected to be dating Sean Penn.

"It was nice to be single and now it's nice to be not single," she said.

Charlize, who is mum to adopted son Jackson, continued: "I wasn't in any place that I even wanted something like [a relationship]. Then one day you go: Oh, [Jackson's] almost two now, and he has his little activities that he goes to and he's got a bedtime now, and you have more time again.

"And it's like if you are open to something, if you just let it happen, it will happen. When you least expect it."

The 38-year-old, who next stars in Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways To Die In The West, said she's happy with her life.

"M y life is really good. I'm sure some people would be like, 'I would never want to have that life.' I'm sure there's a lot of aspects to my life that a lot of people wouldn't want," she said.

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"Just personal choice things. Like the fact that I'm single at 38. That's not necessarily what a lot of women want. I mean unmarried. But I'm just saying, a life is good if it's the life that you want."

Charlize added: "I am living my life in a way that if tomorrow it ended - and I hope not because I have a kid - but if it did, this was the life that I really wanted to live. But I work at that, you know?"

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